The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned down a plea from Ohio Democrats to stay a lower court decision and add more early voting days in the presidential battleground state.
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Rejecting a request by Ohio Democrats, the high court let stand an August ruling by the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld a 2014 law imposing new restrictions on when people could register to vote and cast ballots.
Rice, who serves on Ohio’s 11th District Court of Appeals, was asked about the missing reports Tuesday during an endorsement interview with the editorial board of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.
The saga began in February 2014, after the state’s Republican-led Legislature passed a series of voting restrictions that included eliminating Golden Week and same-day voter registration.
Indeed, Ohio was considered the outlier in a series of cases testing voting rights cutbacks because the Buckeye State still left more than three weeks for voters to cast ballots prior to election day on November 8.
Golden Week was created to make it easier to vote in OH after lengthy lines at polling locations marred the 2004 election.
OH had argued that the rollback was needed to reduce administrative burdens on local election officials.
COLUMBUS, Ohio-Ohio Supreme Court nominee Cynthia Rice’s campaign has yet to file two required campaign finance reports with the state, according to Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted’s office.
The Ohio Democrats lodged an emergency appeal with Supreme Court, but it was denied Tuesday morning.
After long lines at the polls during the 2004 presidential election, OH adopted reforms in 2005 that included no fault absentee voting, a 35-day window for absentee and in-person early voting, and a week overlap when registration and voting could occur the same day.
Over 85,000 people voted early in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties, with both Mahoning and Trumbull having more participants in 2012.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People had challenged the law that erased Golden Week.
Husted and other Republicans have called the lawsuits over Ohio’s voting laws wasteful, and Democratic Rep. Kathleen Clyde of Kent said she hoped there won’t be further need for court action.
“Ohio Republicans can keep trying to make it harder for people to vote, but we will continue to fight them at every turn”, Pepper said in a statement. In fact, OH has one of the most generous voting schedules in the entire country.
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Information from the Associated Press is included in this report.
